Scaling New Heights: How Climb23 is changing the innovation landscape

Ahead of Climb23 landing at Leeds Dock next week, we caught up with Leeds Digital Director Stuart Clarke on his programme highlights, and what the arrival of the brand new innovation festival means for investors and startups across the city.

One of the reasons that the Leeds Digital Festival team created Leeds Digital was to enable us to promote events across the whole year, regardless who organises them. One such event is Climb23, the new innovation festival for investors, startups, scaleups and industry.

Taking place on May 23rd and 24th, it will feature over 150 speakers across four stages, discussing topics across the whole spectrum of tech: heathtech, deeptech, impact investing, greentech, entrepreneurship and much more.

Speakers include Jennifer Byrne, the former CTO of Microsoft, Check Warner from Ada Ventures, June Angelides MBE from Samos Investments, and Zandra Moore from Leeds’ own Panintelligence.

Climb23 is aiming to be the UK’s foremost festival of innovation and investment and it’s exactly the type of event that we want to happen in Leeds every year.

Climb23’s founder, Gordon Bateman, said:

“With investors from across the UK and overseas, this is the ideal place to find investment, make great connections and accelerate growth. We want to create a collaborative environment with multiple streams to help build new relationships in investment and innovation across the regions. This is going to be a fun environment where people will meet, hang out and make things happen”.

Stuart Clarke, Director of Leeds Digital, said:

“We’re really pleased to be supporting Climb23 not just because it’s going to be another reason for people to come to Leeds and find out more about the incredible tech sector we have here, but also because it’s going to be a great couple of days of learning and networking, bringing this collaborative community together again”.

Sessions that caught our eye include:

What do VCs really look for in startups and scaleups – Hosted by River Capital, this workshop will explore what funders really want.

The Power of Diversity and Inclusion: Building a Multicultural and Multigenerational Talent Pool – Hosted by Serena Fordham, this roundtable will discuss a number of ways to build diversity and inclusion into your firm. Participants include Annette Joseph MBE and Esther O’Callaghan OBE.

How VR is Changing the Sports Sector – Andy Etches from Rezzil will be quizzed by Rich Williams on the present and future of VR in sport

Secure your Climb23 ticket here, and use promo code CLEEDSDIGITAL23 at checkout for your exclusive 10% discount.

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